Feb. 2, 2016, 8:30 p.m. Northern Daily Leader

ANTI-coal seam gas groups have hit back at claims the majority of people in the Narrabri Shire support Santos’ operations.

The Narrabri Chamber of Commerce told The Leader on Monday the “vast majority” of the shire was pro-Santos.

However, Lock The Gate and People For The Plains said their research showed the opposite.

People For The Plains spokeswoman Sarah Ciesiolka said they had conducted door-to-door community surveys.

Of those asked, 96 per cent of people were opposed to coal seam gas (CSG).

“The surveys have conclusively demonstrated Santos has no social licence to operate here,” Ms Ciesiolka said.

“Despite what Santos, Yes2Gas and the Narrabri Chamber of Commerce would like people to believe, there is wide-scale community rejection of the CSG industry in North West NSW, and Santos’ Narrabri Gas Project in particular.”

Joshua J. Smith set out in a small plane to capture the remarkable colours and textures of the land of the Anangu people in the central Australian desert.

If you're a passionate landscape photographer, it's a good idea to make friends with a pilot. That's just what Australian photographer Joshua J. Smith did in order to produce his latest series, Ngura. His first major solo exhibition, on now at Black Eye gallery in Sydney, features aerial landscape photographs of Anangu land in Australia's central desert.

"With my good mate and pilot, Joe, I set out from north-west NSW and flew inland with the idea of capturing Australia's unique landscape ... what we encountered was the spiritual and emotional legacy of an ancient natural terrain," Smith said.

These lands, which have been home and identity to the Anangu people for more than 40,000 years, are known as ''Ngura'' in Pitjantjatjara language, thus the title of the exhibition. The striking images show rugged landforms in earth tones – deep ochre, indigo, teal – as well as the brilliant oranges of desert sands.

From Narrabri Shire Council

Congratulations to all the Citizen of the Year nominations. The winners were announced on Australia Day with the following receiving awards.

Young Citizen of the Year - Secondary - Gemma Ferguson

Gemma was nominated for her community contributions through groups and committees such as the Narrabri Youth Shack, involvement in events and various fund-raising activities. Gemma has significant academic achievements and was School Captain 2015.

Community Event of the Year - Narrabri High School Cambodia Group

The group was nominated for successfully raising close to $16,000 for the Tabitha Foundation Australia's House Building program in Cambodia which was able to build eight houses and donate funds to a school and orphanage in Cambodia.

Citizen of the Year - Shirley Pankhurst

Shirley was nominated for her involvement in various groups, she was named Life Member of the Newcastle Women’s Hockey Association, Life Member of the Wee Waa Garden Club and a Life Member of the Wee Waa & District Historical Society. Shirley is also a volunteer for HACC (Home and Community Care).

Simon Evans SMH

Ouch. Chinese private equity fund Hony Capital is down $425 million on its investment in ailing Santos.

The oil price has plunged a further 40 per cent since Hony came to the rescue in early November 2015, as part of the temporary fix to the Santos balance sheet, which also included a rights issue, a cut in dividends, and big cost reductions.

Hony, through its quaintly named investment vehicles United Faith Ventures and Robust Nation, holds 9.81 per cent of Santos.

It will soon find itself free of restrictions three months from November 9, 2015 prevented it moving 9.9 per cent under the original agreement to become a cornerstone shareholder.

By RUTH CASKEY The Land Newspaper

A BUTTERFLY pea biopesticide developed by Wee Waa-based business Innovate Ag will be released for commercial use in September following the recent approval of its active constituent.

Sero-X has passed the biggest hurdle in its approval stage, with the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority approving butterfly pea extract in December.

​Innovate Ag project director Nick Watts said the approval of the active constituent took time as APVMA hadn’t assessed a similar product in the past.

“An active constituent is normally a single compound chemical, so we had to create a new standard for a new active constituent, which is Clitoria ternatea (butterfly pea) extract, and develop the whole data package required to register it.”

Fiona Mead named as a finalist in the NSW-ACT Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) Rural Women's Award

Congratulations to Narrabri local Fiona Mead who has been named as a finalist in the 2016 NSW-ACT Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) Rural Women's Award.

Fiona Mead has been recognised for her dedication to improving our primary industries and rural communities, and named as a finalist in this year’s Rural Women’s Award, each applicant submitted a project initiative as part of the award, aiming to drive regional communities and primary industries’ growth and prosperity.

Fiona’s project‘Rural New Generation Project’ aims to introduce younger farmers onto the land by providing ideas on innovative pathways into farming.

“It will assist emerging farmers to acquire knowledge that will ensure they have the tools and skills required to move into agricultural enterprises.

“The award identifies and supports emerging women leaders who have the desire, commitment and leadership potential to make a greater contribution to our local area.

The overall four finalists for 2016 are Sophie Hansen from Orange, Fiona Mead from Narrabri, Aimee Snowden from Tocumwal and Hannah Wandel from Kingston ACT.

The winner will be announced in 8 March at Parliament House in Sydney, and will receive a bursary of $10,000 and participate in an Australian Institute of Company Directors’ course.

The three finalists will receive a $1000 NSW Department of Primary Industries Leadership Bursary for skills and leadership development.

The award provides financial assistance, mentoring, resources and peer support via a nation-wide network of dynamic business and community leaders through the award alumni.

The NSW-ACT winner will compete for the National RIRDC Rural Women’s Award on 12 October&am

The benefits of improving native fish habitat will be communicated to the local community through locally run events.

In the Namoi, Narrabri Shire Council, the LLS and Narrabri Fishing Club received a joint grant of $22,605 to enhance the Namoi River Recreational Fishing Reserve.

This will include rehabilitating a degraded recreational fishing reserve by removing noxious, invasive and environmental weeds, re-vegetating with native species and removing rubbish along the Namoi River.

Funding for these grants was provided through the Recreational Fishing Trusts from money raised by the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee and spent on activities to improve recreational fishing

The Recreational Fishing Trust - Habitat Action Grant Program is a great example of how anglers’ money is being invested back into recreational fishing and supporting the improvement of recreational fish populations.

Lucy Cormack Environment Reporter SMH

Next time you are sleeping under the stars, consider this: above you there could also be noodles, lasagne sheets or hazelnuts – or, at least, invisible structures shaped like them.

The structures appear to be "lumps" in the thin gas that lies between the stars in our galaxy.

In a breakthrough observation of one of these "lumps", CSIRO astronomers have been able to make the first estimate of its shape.

The lumps were first discovered in 1987, but technological limitations at the time made it difficult to perform any real mathematical modelling or to determine the shape of the structures, due to the time delay between recording the find and realising what they had captured.

National News | January 25, 2016 | by Chris Dobney

Federal environment minister Greg Hunt’s first cousin has taken the extraordinary action of suspending herself 12 metres in the air to block access to construction vehicles and interrupt work at Santos’ controversial Leewood coal seam gas wastewater plant in the Pilliga, north-west NSW.

Jen Hunt is a 51-year-old retired social worker, a mother of two and stepmother of six. She is the latest of a series of people who have taken peaceful direct action and risked arrest to stop the controversial project over the last two months.

Ms Hunt says she wants to send a message to her cousin about the need to protect the Great Artesian Basin. So she suspended herself on a platform hanging from a tree in an effot to halt Santos’ construction work.

She was joined today by 20 supporters including two ‘climate angels’ from Lismore who are part of an international theatrical movement for peaceful climate action. In the past two weeks ten people have been charged for involvement in protests at the Leewood site.

He joined the protest to draw attention to Santos’ broader plan for 850 wells in the Pilliga. The Leewood facility is designed to treat up to one million litres of coal seam gas wastewater each day from exploratory works in the forest, and is under construction without development consent.

Mr Joll, 49, was shocked at the size of the project which protesters say threatens the Great Artesian Basin.